All About Dictionaries

A rhyming dictionary or rhyme dictionary is full of words, just like any other dictionary. The difference is that in a rhyming dictionary, words are arranged not alphabetically, but according to their end sound. This allows poets, songwriters, puzzle solvers and any one else with an interest in rhyme to find rhyming words quickly and easily. Rhyming dictionaries come in print format and also electronic versions - either on computer disc or to download. It is also possible to find a rhyming dictionary online.

There are a range of hard copy rhyming dictionaries available. Their use is simple. If you are searching for a rhyme, start by searching by the end sound of the word you already have. If, for example, you have written the line:

It was a lovely morn in May

You are wanting something to rhyme with May. The end sound is ‘ay’, so this is what you look up. You might find choices such as “hay”, “say” and “day” and could complete your rhyme with something like this:

It was a lovely morn in May
And my fat cow was munching hay.

Not a very lyrical effort, but you get the picture.

Rhyming words are also sorted by the number of syllables. For each sound, one syllable words appear first, followed by two and three syllable words, and so on. So, for our ‘ay’ sound, other rhymes would include “display”, “Saturday”, etc.. Rhymes are sorted by sound rather than spelling, so the end rhyme may not be spelled the same. For example, the word “true” rhymes with “shoe” and “new” as well as “blue”, even though only the end sound of the latter is spelled in the same way.

Electronic rhyming dictionaries, found either online or as computer programs, work slightly differently. For these, the word you have is entered in much the same way as for a search engine, and a list of results is generated, again sorted by the number of syllables.

As well as exact rhymes, some rhyming dictionaries, both electronic and hard copy, provide near rhymes (such as “orange” and “porridge”, which have a similar sound but don’t quite rhyme) and also double and triple rhymes, where two or three syllables of a word match (”rabbit” and “habit”; “lightening” and “tightening”).

Whilst some poets argue that using a rhyming dictionary is ‘cheating’, most admit that a rhyming dictionary can be a handy tool for locating possible rhyming partners, thus overcoming frustrating episodes of writer’s block.

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If you’re interested in a French to English dictionary, you’re in good company. French-English dictionaries have always been strong sellers in the bilingual dictionary category of American book sales. With French being a popular choice for foreign language classes in American schools, as well as Paris being a top tourist destination (especially since the publication of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code), sales of French-English dictionaries are likely to remain stable in the foreseeable future.

When choosing a French to English dictionary, it is important to make sure you choose the correct one for your purposes. Although most contain handy features like lists of French verbs and metric conversions, some dictionaries are designed for use only with the official language spoken in France itself, while others contain information about “unapproved” variations of French used in countries like Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada. France, unlike other countries, is very strict about controlling the influx of new terms into its language.

Since 1635, an organization known as L’Academie Francaise has overseen the inclusion of new words in the official French dictionary, hoping to keep the language pure from outside influences. L’Academie seems particularly concerned about preventing English from tainting the French language; whenever terms coined in English-speaking countries become internationally widespread, the Academie convenes to determine what the official French translation will be. This has created significant controversy among French speakers worldwide, because L’Academie’s jurisdiction extends only to its own country’s borders. Therefore, the French spoken in other countries, particularly Canada, is often looked upon with disdain by the forty-person L ‘Academie panel. If purchasing a French-English dictionary to use while traveling in French-speaking countries other than France, it is imperative to make sure that the dictionary includes terms from the form of French spoken in the region to which the purchaser is traveling.

Some dictionaries also cover the critical cultural differences between English and French. For instance, in France, telephone etiquette is significantly different than that in America. E-mail (officially called “courreil” in France) and postal correspondence follow different conventions than we are used to observing in America. In addition, conversation is seen as an art, and Americans in particular are viewed as lecturers, rather than practitioners of the art. Americans traveling to France who choose not to review these critical cultural differences are likely to find themselves treated coldly at best, and perhaps even rudely. Thus the American stereotype of the rude Frenchman was born, when in actuality, the Americans are bringing it upon themselves by not studying and respecting the French culture before traveling abroad.

As with the purchase of any bilingual dictionary, size and portability are strong factors a purchaser should consider when making his choice. Obviously, an unabridged French-English dictionary, though definitive, would not be the first choice for asking directions to the Louvre. By the same token, a pocket travel dictionary would not be sufficient for reference while reading plays by Moliere in the original French. By keeping the purpose in mind and examining the features of the many French-English dictionaries available, a purchaser will be able to find exactly the right French-English dictionary for their needs.

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At one time, choosing a good German English dictionary was a very difficult task due to the large number of variations in spelling and pronunciation that various German-speaking regions maintained. With the introduction of a sweeping language reform law in 1998, that has all changed. For the first time in nearly a hundred years, German now has a standard orthography providing rules for consistency in spelling, hyphenation, and pronunciation.

The reason for this change is that various regions within Germany, as well as the countries of Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Austria, are all used to complete autonomy where the German language is concerned. Therefore, differences in spelling and pronunciation proliferated in these areas, and were even ratified in the last major German orthography law, put into place in 1902. The 1902 law was only passed after thirty years of negotiations between the German speaking countries and regions within Germany itself, and as a result, was riddled with inconsistencies. Despite the difficulties in the language, and despite attempts to revise the standards after World War II, the 1902 law stayed in effect because German officials feared new legislation would further increase the ideological split between West and East Germany. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the way opened up for negotiations about the standardization of German to begin.

Obviously, with the official spellings and pronunciations changing so recently, the new orthography renders obsolete all German-English dictionaries published prior to 1998, or at least prior to the initial declaration in 1996. When choosing a German-English dictionary for general use, ensuring that the dictionary adheres to the 1998 orthography is of prime importance. Another feature that should be checked is whether the dictionary uses primarily American or British English. This affects how the dictionary’s idiomatic phrases are translated, and a British English dictionary will not be helpful to an American English speaker, and vice versa.

One feature very important to new students of German is the inclusion of essays and charts about German grammar. Since German is a fully-inflected language, noun spellings change based on gender and number, and verb spellings change based on tense, subject gender, and whether the sentence is formal (”Sie” form) or informal (”du” form.) In addition, sentence structure in German is vastly different from sentence structure in English, with nouns, adjectives, and adverbs often appearing at the beginning and middle of the sentence while the verb appears only at the end. If the dictionary focuses on noun declension, verb forms, and sentence structure in separate sections, the student is likely to have an easier time learning German.

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Abbreviated and online representations notwithstanding, praise remains overwhelming for Black’s Law Dictionary (at least the 6th Edition) as a definitive source of basic word and concept definitions, as well as an exceptional starting point for finding legal case authorities.

Begun in 1891 and updated with a second edition in 1910, many years before the appearance of the Oxford English Dictionary, some argue that this reference set the stage for the reach and accessibility of the U.S.’s legal profession. It appeared initially during the same year that the U.S. Congress extended limited protection to foreign works through the Chace Act, thereby allowing greater access to world legal histories and shaping America’s self- and professional elements of jurisprudence.

Founded by Henry Campbell Black, this book remains a definitive “maximizing” legal dictionary, dedicated to coverage of the entire field of law, as opposed to other publications (printed or online), which specialize in sub-fields. Links to this resource frequently note its importance to a broad range of users, from novice legal researchers to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The latest Standard Edition (Eighth) was released in 2004, one product of a line of legal resources offered by Thompson West (West.Thompson.com).

Edited by Bryan A. Garner, the world’s leading legal lexicographer, this version has some 43,000 definitions, 3,000 quotations, alternative spellings or equivalent terms and expressions, thus allowing it to serve a thesaurus-like function in addition to maintaining and growing its basic dictionary focus. The inclusion of legal abbreviations, for example, is also seen as an invaluable aid to legal researchers, particularly when used in conjunction with other WestLaw resources aimed at case histories and more in-depth assessments of issues of contemporary legal importance.

According to Thompson West, the newest version is larger and more highly recommended that its 7th Edition, which received some negative commentary because of its apparent movement away from citation digests. The newest version has enhanced “key number” elements, which are seen as returning this important role.

New legal terms and concepts contained within the 8th Edition include “Amber Alter,” “antispamming law,” “Child Online Protection Act,” “cyberpiracy,” “cyberterrorism,” “chad,” “repressed-memory syndrom,” “ethnic cleanings,” and other national security and social conventions. Abridged, Pocket and Spanish-language versions are also available for purchase or accessible online via numerous legal resource portals.

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New concepts, words and usages of business and technical terms are finding their way into the language of America’s entrepreneurs because of the refinement and specialization made possible by the Internet. For small business innovators, this can be an opportunity and an obstacle. One resource designed to clarify their path is the Dictionary of Small Business (http://www.small-business-dictionary.org), which first became available online in 1994 and now records over 3 million users.

As the developers of the site note, “This Web Site and the book The Language of Small Business are the result of many years of difficult and thorough searching for answers to everyday problems of the small business person.” Thus their site became the first access point for useful definitions “dedicated solely” to small business terms.

The Language of Small Business book is available via online purchasing portals. The dictionary itself is free and available to all.

Some 2,500 words are alphabetized and chronicled by common usage, fully integrating abbreviations and acronyms. Terms with multiple meanings are listed with the most common uses highlight first with linked “subheads” expanding the reach of user-designed searches.

While some concepts such like Accounting has Practices, Policies and Principles as separate categories, others (“Tax Consequences,” for example) offer direct definitions and sub-connections to issues, like “Tax Perks,” an important incentive that small business leaders must consider when they seek to secure quality employees.

Grounded in the fact that the vast majority of businesses in the United States are small businesses (some 90+% of over 21,000,000 tax returns), this resource reaches out to provide information and ideas for everyone from start-up dreamers to business entrepreneurs to bankers, accountants, government officials and investors alike. Students and researchers or journalists are also encouraged to consider this resource as they seek to understand the field.

The growing complexity and technological reach of business opportunities and rules/regulations can make it challenging for small business people to plan and grow in line with their vision. As a result, the Small Business Dictionary emphasizes commonplace terms and concepts first, but still lists specialized words and phrases to reach for the broadest audience everywhere. The authors state specifically that: “With the exception of unique government definitions and unique tax-related terms, all the definitions can be applied consistently throughout the world.”

Keeping this site up-to-date and relevant is deemed important. The Small Business Dictionary allows for user input and clarification of words and concepts. Active links are also provided to locally applicable community assistance programs (such as SCORE retired business volunteers) and online connectivity to the Small Business Administration, where loads of other resources are available for those in need of hands on assistance.

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The compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary was a monumental task, and ultimately took more than seventy years to complete. However, many people are unaware of a fascinating story behind the scenes of the dictionary’s compilation, a tale of irony and madness surrounding an American expatriate surgeon named Dr. William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor’s story - and the way in which it relates to the OED - is chronicled in Simon Winchester’s book, The Professor and the Madman.

Dr. Minor was a veteran of the American Civil War, and had seen incredible horrors, particularly on the Wilderness battlefield in Orange County, Virginia. After the war, in an attempt to escape the insanity he felt creeping in, he moved to England for a change of scenery. About a year after moving there, he shot an innocent man, thinking the man had broken into his living quarters. At the trial, he was found not guilty on grounds of insanity, a common practice at the time, and was “detained in safe custody until Her Majesty’s Pleasure be known.”

A few years later, in 1878, Professor James Murray became the third editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, and sent out a call to intellectuals all over England for submissions to the dictionary. He started receiving many submissions from the American expatriate, all of excellent quality, and wished to meet the man. He invited Minor to travel to Oxford many times, and Minor always politely refused, offering no explanation why. Despite this, the two men developed a fond and respectful relationship with each other, completely through correspondence.

Finally, in 1896, after receiving nearly 10,000 submissions from Minor, Murray took it upon himself to meet his esteemed colleague. He took a train from Oxford to Sandhurst, Berkshire, about fifty miles away, where a coach was waiting to take him to the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, the return address on the letters from Dr. Minor. Logically, Murray had assumed that Dr. Minor worked at the asylum. Murray was led into the imposing brick building and taken an office clearly belonging to an important man. Assuming he was facing Dr. Minor, Murray introduced himself, only to find that the man behind the desk was not Dr. Minor, but the Governor of the asylum. The Governor broke the news to Murray that Dr. Minor was indeed in the building, but as an inmate, not a staff member, and had been in residence there for over twenty years.

Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman examines in detail the reasons for Dr. Minor’s fall into insanity, as well as the initial meeting and staunch friendship of the two intellectuals. Some aspects of Dr. Minor’s insanity are rather visceral, and may be difficult to stomach for some readers, but the book paints a fascinating picture of a mad genius and the man who was willing to look beyond the madness to share a friendship and an intellectual fascination with words.

For those who are more interested in the decades-long process of building the OED itself, Winchester has also put out a second book on the subject, The Meaning of Everything.

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We live in an abbreviated society. Abbreviations permeate our lives like insects, finding their way into all the nooks and crannies of written and spoken language. Often, abbreviations come into being because they are truly useful, like the shortening of “North Atlantic Treaty Organization” to NATO. Other times, abbreviations are necessary in order to make the best use of limited space, as when entering names and addresses into databases with fixed-length fields. Sometimes, abbreviations come into being as part of societal subculture. Visitors to computer chat rooms who see the abbreviations “brb,” “ttyl,” or “ty” quickly learn that these abbreviations respectively mean “be right back,” “talk to you later,” and “thank you.”

At some point, though, the sheer volume of abbreviations becomes cumbersome, and a need arises for some kind of reference work on the subject. Enter the American Heritage Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition, an inexpensive pocket guide to the shortened forms of American English. The AHD Abbreviations Dictionary offers over 20,000 entries in a book less than an inch thick, covering the following categories: acronyms (scuba: self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), blends (napalm: naphthene + palmitate), clippings (pecs: pectoral muscles), defined terms (ABC’s: the basics), foreign terms (et. al.: “and others”), initialisms (NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization), mnemonic devices (PEMDAS: mathematical order of operations), numericals (L8R: later), phonetic initialisms (IC: “I see”), respellings (warez: software), symbols (Pb: chemical symbol for lead), truncations (abbrev: abbreviation), three-letter airport codes (DEN: Denver International Airport), colleges and universities (USC: University of Southern California), sports terminology (ERA: earned run average), Internet Chat Room terminology (FWIW: for what it’s worth), three-letter currency abbreviations (JPY: Japanese yen), vehicular country identification codes (GB: Great Britain), constellations (Dra: Draco) and new American government abbreviations (OHS: Office of Homeland Security).

While the dictionary is useful for looking up various abbreviations, it must be noted that this dictionary does not offer definitions or notes on usage. In other words, if a person watching the Discovery Channel hears the abbreviation “IHAS” and looks it up, she will find that it means “idiopathic hypertrophic aortic stenosis,” but unless she has a background in cardiology, she is not likely to know the meaning of the term behind the abbreviation.

When an abbreviation originates in another language or specific area of knowledge, the dictionary does make note of that. For example, the entry for “ibid.” identifies the abbreviation as originating from the Latin term ibidem, and gives its meaning (”in the same place”). Similarly, the abbreviation “ERI” identifies Eridanus as a constellation.

Perhaps one of the most fun aspects of this dictionary is its serendipity factor. While merely browsing the dictionary, one can find interesting entries like “IASOSFRGDOH” (International Amalgamated Society of Searchers for Rare, Greasy, Dirty Old Hubcaps) and “HAMSTeRS” (Haemophilia: A Mutation, Structure, Test, and Resource Site).

Whether you are reading a David Baldacci techno-thriller filled with acronyms or just needing an occasional abbreviation clarification, the American Heritage Abbreviations Dictionary is worth keeping on your bookshelf.

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“Nurse, start him on a 20 cc/hr IV of lipids. He’s NPO.” For many in the medical field, this makes perfect sense. Most of us can even understand everything in the first sentence, but the abbreviation “NPO” is likely to flummox people without a background in the medical field. This is a time when it would be handy to have the Dictionary of Medical Acronyms and Abbreviations handy. Sometimes, when a loved one is in the hospital, the constant flurry of medical abbreviations becomes numbing, and can make people feel as if they don’t know what’s going on. In a case like that above, it would be easy for a person to look up “NPO” in the dictionary and discover that it simply means “Nothing Per Oral,” or no food by mouth.

Of course, the dictionary itself is not designed for the casual user. It’s really designed for medical professionals who have to deal with abbreviations constantly. It’s nearly impossible to keep up with all the new abbreviations entering the medical field. Each new virus, drug, and piece of equipment, it seems, has its own set of acronyms, and a nurse or doctor can easily be blindsided by a new abbreviation.

To solve that problem, Stanley Jablonski, a distinguished indexer for the National Library of Medicine, took it upon himself to create the Dictionary of Medical Acronyms and Abbreviations, and during his lifetime, edited five editions of the book. The latest edition, the sixth, includes over 55,000 terms, almost 10,000 of them brand new. The new abbreviations come from recent clinical trials, changes in virus nomenclature, and the relatively new field of medical informatics. Medical informatics is the area of medicine specializing in the use of computers to manage information and patient care.

Like most abbreviation dictionaries, the DMAA does not include definitions. There is simply no room to do that and keep the dictionary portable. Therefore, if a doctor looks up the acronym “SS” and finds that it means “Sjoegren’s Syndrome,” he will not find a description of the condition, but he will at least know where to look to find more information.

One very handy feature of this book is the inclusion of the searchable text on CD-ROM. Since much of a doctor’s documentation work is now done on computers, having the dictionary easily accessible on the computer is a very useful thing. In addition, a version is also available for handheld computers, which doctors are now carrying with increasing frequency.

Though geared toward medical professionals, this dictionary is a worthwhile purchase for people who have any prolonged exposure to medical abbreviations. Doctors, nurses, insurance claim processors, and even people with chronic illnesses can benefit from the information in Jablonski’s dictionary.

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